Dennis Wheatley - The Shadow of Tyburn Tree

The first was for the bridal pair and was almost as commodious as a caravan; its wide seats pulled down to form sleeping-bunks and in addition to a great pile of fur rugs it contained most of their personal belongings. In the second were to ride a maid for her and a valet for him; from its boot protruded the chimney of a small field-kitchen and a good part of its interior was occupied by cases containing food and wine.

The good-byes were said, they took their seats, and the two heavy coaches rumbled out of the yard. For the first time since their wedding, some twenty-six hours before, he was alone with his wife. True to his decision taken in the church he put his arm round her, drew her head down onto his shoulder, and kissed her.

She nestled against him, and after a moment murmured:

"How prodigious strange it is that, whereas a week ago, I should never have dared to ask the consent of my family or the Empress to marry an untitled gentleman like yourself, we should now find ourselves wed by her decree. 'Tis hard that, having been generous enough to give you to me, she should have driven us away from most of the things that make life worth living. But we have one another, and our exile may not be of long duration; so, all things considered, we should count ourselves monstrous fortunate."

"If we are called upon to face hardship together no worse equipped than we are at present, we shall have little cause to grumble," he smiled. "However did you manage to arrange for us to journey into exile in such comfort ?"

Glancing up at him in surprise, she replied. "Wherever we were bound we could hardly travel with less than two coaches; and were you in truth taking me to honeymoon on your Tula estate the arrange­ments would not have differed. 'Twould have been all of eight hundred versts , and in Russia towns having inns of a good enough standard to accommodate persons of quality are often several days' journey apart; so even in .the depths of winter one must be prepared to take most of one's meals on the roadside."

"Even so, seeing that, like myself, you were confined to the Peterhof until your going to church this morning, I marvel at your having suc­ceeded in smoothing the first stage of our rough path so altogether admirably."

" 'Twas quite simple," she confessed. "In order to conform to the Empress's orders, I told my grandfather yesterday that you were averse to abiding for even a night in Petersburg, and I asked him to provide travelling coaches for us this morning. Then I sent my maid in with orders to pack such things as I might require for several months' absence and to make all other arrangements."

"Did you not tell even your grandfather that we had been ordered into exile?"

"Nay, I dared not. Had I done so he would have gone to the Empress and made a scene, which would have achieved nothing except to mar our prospects of an early reprieve. Clearly it is her wish that no one should learn of our disgrace until sufficient time has elapsed for it to be no longer connected with your brief stay at the Peterhof. When we have been at our destination long enough for my friends to expect to have news of me I intend to write to them, saying that the Empress banished us in a fit of temper brought about by an indiscretion of yours. I'll say that you were rash enough to demand that on marrying you, I should cease my attendance on her, and she retorted that since you were so greedy for my company you should take me to a place where you would have no other. She will, I am sure, appreciate the cleverness of such an explanation, and when my relatives then urge that you erred only through lack of knowledge of her Court she will pardon and recall us."

"All that you say seems to me the essence of wisdom," Roger agreed. "But in the meantime, whither are we bound?"

"Our first stage is to Tosno, a township some forty versts from Petersburg upon the Moscow road, which we should take were we going to Tula. But from Tosno we shall turn east, and by way of Vologda, Viatka and Perm, come to Ekaterinburg; the new city which has been founded by the orders of the Empress in the gap through Ural mountains. It is the gateway to Asiatic Russia, and residence there is accepted as exile in Siberia. Few people of our station go further east unless definitely ordered to do so, and the offspring of a con­siderable number of the nobility who settled there on being banished by the Empress Elizabeth now form a by no means uncultured society."

Roger gave her a gentle squeeze. "You have planned well, sweet­heart; but I think I can offer you a brighter future. That is, if you are prepared to leave Russia?"

"Leave Russia!" she exclaimed. "But in our present situation that is impossible."

"On the contrary, my love, I have already arranged passages in a ship that is sailing from Petersburg in a few days' time. We have but to return there and go aboard in secret to-night."

She considered that for a moment, then she said: "I would not be averse to leaving Russia for a year or two; but I am greatly attached to my country and 'twould break my heart were I never to see it again. To do as you suggest would be such flagrant disobedience of the Empress's orders she might decree that I was never to return."

"Since she loves Russia so dearly herself I cannot think that she would be so harsh as to place a permanent ban on one of her subjects returning to the country of their birth. Particularly as you would be able to. urge your marriage vows as your excuse for leaving without her consent. 'Tis a wife's duty to obey her husband and go with him wherever he chooses to take her."

"True, and Katinka is not by nature given to bearing malice for long. So be it then; we will return to Petersburg after dark. I have heard so much of the Court of Versailles and the fair land of France, that 'twill pleasure me greatly to see it all with you as my cicerone."

Her words gave Roger a nasty jolt. He had forgotten for the moment that in spite of the ceremony in the English church she still believed him to be a Frenchman. His mind had been so occupied with more urgent matters that he had entirely overlooked this compli­cation, and he wondered anxiously what he had better do about it.

His first impulse was to tell her the truth, but on second thoughts he saw that to do so would be to invite a score of awkward questions. Knowing her passionate love for Russia he dared not admit that he had come there as a spy. She would realise at once that he had used her as his catspaw and the result would be disastrous. Worse, she might guess the unpalatable truth, that he had never really loved her, but became

her lover only in order to ferret out Russia's secrets. Her love for her country might then prove stronger than her passion for himself and feeling herself utterly humiliated and outraged, the violence of her anger might even lead her to denounce him.

Swiftly he decided that he must leave that skeleton in its cupboard at least until he had her out of Russia, so he said: " 'Twill be the great­est joy to show you Paris and Versailles; but this is a British ship, so first we go to England. I also know that country well and have many friends there. London is near as gay as Paris and I'll be as proud as a peacock to show you off in its most fashionable salons."

They were now on the outskirts of St. Petersburg and as the coach rumbled on into the country he told her about life in the western capitals, and thoroughly enjoyed answering all her eager, excited questions.

At four o'clock they halted by the wayside and the servants cooked a meal for them. Then, while they ate it, Roger raised several points that had been troubling him considerably.

"Our ship," he said, "may not sail for two or three days. We shall remain concealed on board, of course; but what of your two servants and the coachmen? Can you rely on their discretion? What, too, of the coaches? Their premature return to your grandfather's stable is certain to arouse comment; moreover, if the progress of our journey is not reported by the police in the towns through which we are expected to pass, a hue-and-cry may start, and that might lead to a search for us in all the ships in port."